Puffin's crew enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise at breakfast today while anchored in a piece of water a few hundred yards south of the Figure Eight swing bridge. It's a no-name cove that's also a "no-go" anchorage in anything but the calmest weather. It's too narrow to swing 360 degrees without running aground at low water. Last night, however, was totally calm so the tidal ebb and flow kept us positioned within the channel's narrow confines, though we did awaken at 3:30 AM for a quick position check as low tide approached.

What really stood out in cruising this stretch of the North Carolina ICW near Wrightsville, were the unusually large number of loons. We saw dozens, without even trying. Dare we say the loons easily outnumbered the cormorants? Saw a lot of least terns as well, at least that's what they looked like. (sorry).

We last posted en route to Charleston while off the coast of Georgia, cruising overnight in company with Alan and Gerri aboard Civil Twilight. Good weather and good luck combined to make it an uneventful trip. Swapping watches with Nancy through the night, I went to sleep about 5:00 AM. I awoke several hours later as Puffin was gliding through Charleston Harbor under Nancy's pilotage.

We remained in Charleston Harbor for a couple of nights, meeting up with the crew from The Good Life, Mark and Mary, and new friends Mike and Betty from our home town area. They were getting to know the brand new Benneteau they took delivery of in Charleston. We also received a dubious "award" from Alan and Gerri, in the form of a T-shirt proclaiming to all, that the wearer hadn't always been "old geezer", at least in his own mind.

Reluctantly Puffin departed Charleston, our favorite city, and started up the waterway anchoring the first evening in the Santee River. The next evening found us at Cricket Cove Marina and then we moved on to last evening's dubious anchorage at Middle Sound.